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It took just one trip through the Blue Jays’ five-man rotation for fans to learn some early facts about this team:

1. They’re frontrunners.

2. They don’t come from behind well.

3. Carrying eight relievers in the bullpen was not enough — just five days into the season.

4. Their clutch hitting needs some work.

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5. The defence is remarkably inconsistent and, oh yeah, they need a road trip, sooner rather than later.

In a 5-0 Jays win Saturday at the Rogers Centre, left-hander J.A. Happ made a strong case for the team having picked the right man when they chose the former Phillie and Astro to man the fifth spot over the struggling Ricky Romero.

Happ, 30, gave the Jays a needed shot in the arm and 5.1 shutout innings, allowing one hit, against the Red Sox in what has been an otherwise disappointing homestand. Jacoby Ellsbury doubled leading off the game, but from that point on, Happ retired 16 of 19 batters before Steve Delabar took over after he had thrown 99 pitches. The bullpen allowed just one hit the rest of the way.

“I had a lot of adrenaline going and was a little anxious maybe,” Happ said of his elevated pitch count. “I tried to make some adjustments. I made some big pitches with men on base. I used to use (the changeup) quite a bit and I’m trying to get back to the point where I can find that comfort zone. It’s a feel pitch, so when it’s not there it makes it rough. It was working for me pretty good today.”

Once again it was the home run ball that separated the Jays from their arch-rival Red Sox. Catcher J.P. Arencibia slammed a two-run shot to centre field and then centre fielder Colby Rasmus made the lead comfortable with a three-run bomb to deep right-centre off the facing of the third deck. Rasmus has just a .167 average, but two of his three hits are monster home runs.

“They pay those pitchers a lot of money to get people out,” Rasmus philosophized. “My goal is to just try and get a good pitch and hit it. My problem is I just haven’t been hitting those pitches I should be hitting. Just keep pushing, keep grinding in the cage. Do my work and just keep grinding.”

With an announced attendance Saturday of 45,797, the first two games of the Red Sox series have drawn more than 91,000 raucous, John Farrell jeering, chanting, into-the-game fans.

“I love the fans,” Rasmus smiled. “I love it when they get into the game, get rowdy. That’s what it’s all about. That means they’re having a good time. It gives us energy and it’s always good.”

Let’s go back to the “what have we learned” portion of today’s lesson that we started above. The Jays are a pedestrian 2-3 after five games, alarming some among the fan base. The top five reasons?

1. Frontrunners: The Jays beat the Indians in a slugfest on Thursday and the Sox on Saturday. In those two wins, the Jays never trailed, leading after 14 complete innings and being tied after four others. Even in Thursday’s 10-8 decision, they never trailed, although the bullpen made it interesting.

2. No comebacks: In the three losses — the first two games of the season and on Farrell-palooza Friday — the Jays never led after a full inning. In those 29 innings, the Jays trailed at the end of 15 of them and were tied after the remaining 14. No identity-defining wins for the Jays.

3. Worn-out pen: Remarkably, on Saturday morning, just 13 hours after dropping a 6-4 decision to the Sox on the occasion of Farrell’s return, 33-year-old pitcher Dave Bush strolled into the home clubhouse, passing right-hander Jeremy Jeffress on his way out. Jeffress allowed a leadoff homer in the ninth to Will Middlebrooks on Friday and was summarily designated for assignment. This is the first case of Buffalo factoring in well as the home of the Jays’ Triple-A affiliate instead of Las Vegas.

“I found out about 6 o’clock this morning,” Bush said of his personal timeline. “We were getting ready to go on the road, so I unpacked one bag and repacked another one. I had to track down my equipment and get all my stuff ready. I’m excited. It’s been a year and a half, two years since I’ve been in the big leagues, so I wasn’t sure if I’d get a chance to come back.”

4. Clutch hitting: When Rasmus clubbed his three-run homer off Alfredo Aceves on Saturday, it was the Jays’ first hit with runners in scoring position in 20 at-bats, dating back to a three-run blast by Edwin Encarnacion in the fifth inning Thursday.

Combined with J.P. Arencibia’s two-run monster smash off John Lackey in the fourth, the Jays now have 11 home runs for the season. However, they’ve scored just 22 runs overall.

The unfortunate Lackey, who missed the entire 2012 season following Tommy John surgery, was forced from this one clutching his right arm with a full count on Jose Reyes in the fifth. The Red Sox announced it as a right biceps strain. Lackey was replaced by Aceves.

5. Defence: This is the most alarming aspect of the Jays’ opening homestand. In the first five games, the Jays have made six errors, with three passed balls and two wild pitches. There have been another half-dozen plays that could have been made that weren’t called errors and others fielded awkwardly even in the process of being completed. Do the new players need time on artificial turf?

“Defensively, we haven’t played particularly well this homestand,” manager John Gibbons admitted. “There’s no question about that. It doesn’t always beat you, but it puts some extra pressure on a pitcher. You always have your back against the wall and everybody feels it. It catches up with you.”

Despite all that, the Jays have a chance to even their record Sunday on the final game of the homestand, before heading to Detroit following an off-day on Monday.

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